<p>New Delhi: Star long jumper Murali Sreeshankar clinched his third straight title after coming back from a long injury lay-off as he won the event at the Qosanov Memorial Athletics Meet in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Saturday.</p>.<p>The 26-year-old Indian produced a winning leap of 7.94m on his opening attempt to secure the top spot at the World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze label (category C) meet.</p>.<p>His other efforts were 7.73m, 7.58m, 7.57m, 7.80m and 7.79m. He has a personal best of 8.41m.</p>.<p>This was Sreeshankar’s third competition since returning from a knee injury, which he suffered in April last year.</p>.India vs England | Oval Test and series poised for a keen finish .<p>He had undergone surgery and consequently missed the 2024 Olympics despite qualifying for the global showpiece in the French capital.</p>.<p>Sreeshankar won the Indian Open in Pune with a jump of 8.05m jump in his first comeback competition and followed it up with a 7.75m effort to top the podium at the Meeting Maia Cidade do Desporto in Portugal.</p>.<p>Before injury, Sreeshankar’s last international appearance was a silver-medal finish at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in 2023.</p>.<p>He is yet to qualify for the Tokyo World Championships in September, for which the men’s long jump qualification standard is 8.27m. </p>
<p>New Delhi: Star long jumper Murali Sreeshankar clinched his third straight title after coming back from a long injury lay-off as he won the event at the Qosanov Memorial Athletics Meet in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Saturday.</p>.<p>The 26-year-old Indian produced a winning leap of 7.94m on his opening attempt to secure the top spot at the World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze label (category C) meet.</p>.<p>His other efforts were 7.73m, 7.58m, 7.57m, 7.80m and 7.79m. He has a personal best of 8.41m.</p>.<p>This was Sreeshankar’s third competition since returning from a knee injury, which he suffered in April last year.</p>.India vs England | Oval Test and series poised for a keen finish .<p>He had undergone surgery and consequently missed the 2024 Olympics despite qualifying for the global showpiece in the French capital.</p>.<p>Sreeshankar won the Indian Open in Pune with a jump of 8.05m jump in his first comeback competition and followed it up with a 7.75m effort to top the podium at the Meeting Maia Cidade do Desporto in Portugal.</p>.<p>Before injury, Sreeshankar’s last international appearance was a silver-medal finish at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in 2023.</p>.<p>He is yet to qualify for the Tokyo World Championships in September, for which the men’s long jump qualification standard is 8.27m. </p>